Improvement in fancy-looms



v vUNITED STATES PATENT OFFTCE.

LUCIUS J. KNOWLES, OF WARREN, MASSACHUSETTS.

' IMPROVEMENT IN FANCY-LOOMS.

Specification forming part of Let-ters Patent No. 37,760, dated February 24, 1863.

To aZZ whom t may concern.-

Beit known that I, LUcrUs J. KNoWLEs, of Warren, in the county of Worcester and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain VImprovements in Looms for Weaving Fancy employment of the crank as compared with the cam, and thereby to run the loom with greater rapidity and with a smaller expenditure of power than has heretofore been practicable; and my invention consists in the employment of cranks and toothed crankwheels, operating in connection with revolving lifter and depresser wheels, and so arranged that the cranks may be turned to either the highest or lowest point of their revolution for the purpose of raising or lowering the heddles or the drop-box.

My invention also consists in certain details, which will be more fully described and pointed out hereinafter.

The lathe A is vibrated by cranks upon the driving-shaft B, from which all the other motions of the loom are derived.

The heddles C are actuated as follows: Corresponding with each leaf of the harness is a standard, D, which is pivoted at a to brackets or arms E, attached to the frame-work of the machine. These standards are so formed or otherwise weighted as constantly to bear against a pattern-cylinder, F, the pins b in which act upon the standards to throw them forward. To the top of each of the standards D is pivoted a toothed crank-wheel, c, from the face of which projects a crank-pin, 1, upon which runs a small ring or socket, to which is attached the cords f and g, the former, f, be ing attached to the top, and the latter, g, to the bottom of the heddles, the cords passing over suitable guide-wheels, as seen in the drawings. When the heddles are to be raised or lowered, the wheels c are caused to make a half-revolution, by which the pin l is brought up as far as the standard D. When the pin 1 is at the highest point of its circuit, the heddles are down, and when the wheel c is revolved so as to bring this pin to the lowest point of its circuit the heddles are raised. yThe wheels c are caused to make a semi-revolution back and forth for the purpose of raising and lowering the heddles, as follows: The shaft B carries a Wheel, h, having teeth upon a portion of its periphery, which engage with a wheel, k, upon a short sl1ait,fi, that runs in boxes 2 upon an attachment, G, to the main frame. To the shaft fi are also attached the bevel-wheels Z and m, which engage with similar Wheels upon the shafts of the fluted or toothed rolls H and I, which are thus caused to rotate intermittently in the direction of their arrows as the shaft B revolves, the teeth upon the wheels h and 7i: being so apportioned that the rolls make one entire revolution for every revolution of the shaft B, or for every beat of the lathe. The wheels c are caused to engage with one or the other of the rolls H and l for the purpose of opening the shed, as follows: ,Whenever the pins 3 of the pattern-cylinder F throw the tops of the vibrating standards D in, so as to engage the crank-wheels c with the cylinder I, these Wheels are caused to make a half-revolution, and the heddles connected with all the wheels thus revolved are raised. On the wheels c completing their semi-revolution, a blank space upon their periphery arrives opposite to the driving-roll, and the wheels, no longer driven, are prevented from going farther by the pins l coming in contact with the standards D. These wheels cannot then again be revolved until the standards (no longer held by the pins 3) are permitted to drop back upon the cylinder F, where they are made to engage with the roll H, by which they are revolved in a direction the opposite of that indicated by their arrow, Fig. l, and lthe heddles are lowered. Y

To insure thc engagement of the crank- Wheels c with the lifting and depressing rolls H and I, every alternate tooth of both the wheels and the rolls is removed at the intermediate point where they first come in contact, and both the wheels and the`rolls are so adjusted upon their shafts that when they are brought into contact with each other there shall be no interference of their teeth. The rolls H and I are caused to stop after each revolution at exactly the sameA point by a spring stop, p, which enters a notch in the periphery of a wheel or disk, o, upon the shaft of the dlum I, and the crank-wheels c are so arranged with respect to their standards D t'nat the cranks shall not be driven beyond their highest and lowest positions.

For the purpose ot'eommunicating an intermittent Amotion to the wheel k from the revolvi ng wheel IL Without the jar or shock which would be consequent upon a sudden engagement of the two, and also for the purpose ot' insuring the proper engagement ot' the teeth of these two wheels, the following device is employed: The wheel h is cut away upon one end so as to form a projecting ledge, r, and upon the shat't of the wheel 7c is a cam, s, which is so arranged as to come in contact with the ledge r near the center of motion, so that the wheel k is started very gradually and acquires a motion equal to that ot' the wheel h before the teeth oi' the tw'o wheels actually engage with each other. To prevent the heddleicords from being uselessly strained at the time when the rwheels c are in motion, the guide-rolls tare carried by a frame, q, pivoted at a., which is depressed at the time when the wheels c are in motion by an eccentric, L, that is connected with the frame q by a bar, M.

A device somewhat similar to that employed forthe purpose of actuating the heddles is used for moving the shuttle-boxes. Standards D2, carrying at their upper extremities crank-wheels c2, constructed and operating in connection with the rolls H andlin a manner precisely similar to the crank-wheels c, are actuated by pins 5 upon the pattern-cylinder. rlhe wheels c2, which are revolved in one direction or the other by the lifter and depresser rolls, also carry crank pins 6, which are connected by rods T each with alever, K, pivoted to some stationary Apart ot' the machine.. The operation of this part of the mechanism is as follows: The standards D2 being governed by the pattern, the wheels c2 are revolved so as to raise or lower their crankpins, and to bring them at rest above or below their center ot' motion. A cord, u, attached to one end of each of the levers K, passes round a roll on the bar N, attached to the drop box O.

The parts above described are so proportioned to each other that when both the crankpins ofthe wheels c2 are in their highest position the upper shuttle-box will be opposite to the race. When one of the wheels c2 is revolved so as to bring its crank-pin down, the drop-box will descend a distance equal to onevhalt' that through which the end of the lever K moves, and the center 'shuttle-box will be brought opposite to the race; but it' both the wheels are revolved so as to bring down their crank-pins, the drop-box will be raised so as to bring the lowest shuttle into position, so that by the motion of one or both of the wheels 02 either of the three shuttle-boxes may be brought into use. Where three shuttles only are to be used, the -drops-boxes may be connected together by cords or otherwise, so as to be operated the one by the other, a cord, l?, attached to the bar N, passing over a guidepulley, w, on the lathe and over a similar pul-` ley at the opposite end of the loom, andis attached to the bar N2 of the other drop-box, and thus as one box rises the other descends, the highest box in one being always opposite to the lowest one in the other. If tive shut` tles are to be used with three boxes upon each end of the loom, the drop-boxes should be independent of each other, and be operated each by a pair of' wheels, c2, and standards D, the motions of the crank-pins being transmitted to the other end of the loom by cords or in any suitable manner. The pattern-cylinder F is turned one-sixth of a revolution each time the shaft B revolves, by a pin, m, projecting from the face of a wheel, y, on the end of the shaft B, which engages with slots 7, in a cup-shaped wheel, R, upon the shaft of the pattern-cylinder.

It will be seen by an inspection of Fig. 2 that owing to the mutual connection of the levers K with each other by means of the cord u the drop-box is moved through a distance equal only to one-half of the distance through which the end ofthe lever K moves, and that in order to carry the drop-box from one extreme position to another it is necessary that both the wheels c2, be moved simultaneously, and both of the levers K operated.

It is obvious that there are other methods of arranging the levers K in connection with thepulley and cord which communicate motion from the cranks to the drop-box which will not dii'er essentially from that described above. For example, a single lever, K, may be employed, one end of which is hinged to the bar N, the other carrying' a roller, up over which a cord passes, the ends ot' which are attached to the ends of the rods T. It is also evident that the cranks which operate the shuttles and the heddles may be actuated by other mechanism than that described-as, for example, by ratchets moving upon centers.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. Operating the heddles by means of cranks capable 'of being turned independently of each other to the opposite extremes of their throws, as indicated by the pattern-chain or its equivalent, substantially as described.

2,. Operating movable shuttle boxes by means ot' cranks so arranged as to be turned independently of each other from one extreme of their throws to the other, under the direction of a patternchain or its equivalent.

3. The rotating lifter and depresser cylin ders, operating as set forth, for the purpose described.

4. The crank-Wheels c c?, constructed and operating substantially as described, for the purpose specified.

5. The gear lo and seg'mental gear-Wheel h, in combination with a rotary lifter and depresser cylinder, for the purpose set forth.

6. The cam s upon the shaft of the Wheel k,

in combination with the ledge r upon the seg mental gear h, for'the purpose described.

7. Loosening up the harness-cords by means of the vibrating guide-rolls or their equivalents, for the purpose described.

8. Connecting the drop-box with the mechanism by which it is operated by means of a cord and pulley, substantially as described.

- LUCIUS J. KNOWLES. Vitnesses:

SAM. COOPER, N. W. STEARNS. 

